Screw You
by VeryImpressive
Summary: No, screw you – traitor. [274/362]


**Screw You **

Rachel had a love-hate relationship with Numbuh 274.

She was confident in her assumption that the vast majority of the Kids Next Door would disagree with her, but they did not know him like she did. They hadn't had to to deal with the fact that they were always going to be second fiddle to him. They hadn't always had to live in his infernally large shadow. Worst yet, none them had to deal an ego that could fill every nook and cranny in the Moonbase, like she did – on a daily basis. No, she saw Chad Dickson for what he was, an egomaniacal loon.

Standing behind him, and just off to his left, as he delivered the annual state of the Kids Next Door address to the entire organization, Rachel carefully schooled her features. That's what she was to the eyes of everyone else, his tool, his protégé, his enforcer – if they only knew how she felt about him, and her utter bitterness towards him, than it would unleash chaos and sow dissent in the population. Even as the ever _exalted_ Supreme Leader winked at the audience and charmed them with his blinding smiles, Rachel kept her clenched fists carefully behind her back.

"And as we enter the new year, you have our assurances that this year, we will take the fight to them, and we will win!" Chad promised to the roaring crowds, and even as all of the eyes in the room seemed to be on him –Rachel kept her eyes on the crowds. It was disgusting, the level of devotion to the leader completely disgusted her. "Numbuh 362 and I will make sure of it! KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!"

In her bitterness, she had forgotten something important about herself.

She was totally devoted to him as well.

* * *

Rachel never thought that she would be giving this order.

Nigel Uno had built himself a reputation that was completely legendary in the rank and file members of the Kids Next Door. He had been an operative, that Rachel, along with Chad, had believed would be above reproach. That did not change the fact that Nigel was a teenager now – and a teenager that needed to be handled and handled quickly. Nigel was one of those few operatives that, if compromised, would represent a major security risk. If he was tempted to change sides, the level of damage to the Kids Next Door security apparatus would be enormous and untold.

"Find him," Rachel ordered as she looked out of the viewport at the planet below, her arms folded behind her back, her tone careful. "But Numbuh 86, you consider yourself under my _direct_ orders to give him dignity, Nigel Uno is one of the greats, treat him like that. No full court press, just a quiet procession to decommissioning."

Fanny would probably disobey her orders – but she couldn't do a thing about it.

Dismissing the Head of Decommissioning with a wave of her hand, she focused her line of sight back down on the planet and forced a sigh out. It hurt to lose one of the good ones – it would hurt to lose Nigel. There were those agents out there, the ones that seemed to be destined to do this and were the very best at what they did. The simple fact of the matter was that they didn't make them like Nigel Uno and Chad Dickson anymore – and once they were gone, they couldn't be replaced.

Wait a moment.

The spy and tactical analyst inside of Rachel screamed in anger – because when two of the highest regarded operatives in the Kids Next Door were put side by side, something didn't work exactly. She would probably have to have a word with the engineers of the computer database, not to mention Numbuh 86, over this fallacy.

If Nigel was scheduled for decommissioning today,and it was truly his 13th Birthday, and Chad was officially a few years older than Nigel, that meant that-…

Rachel suddenly felt lightheaded.

"Fanny!" Rachel's eyes widened as it dawned on her – but when she turned around, Fanny and her escorts were gone. It filled Rachel with frustration that the overzealous head of operations tended to go it alone – but Rachel realized that she didn't need Fanny. She did not need to expose anyone else to this very big mess.

"Numbuh 32," Rachel turned to one of the command stations to her direct left and locked eyes with the technician. "Get me Numbuh 274's exact location, now."

Whatever was about to happen needed to be handled delicately – Rachel would not allow the general rank and file members of the Kids Next Door to lose faith in the abilities of Global Command. If handled the wrong way, the question of whether or not the key members of Global Command were capable of policing themselves.

They were, they always were – but she couldn't explain how 274 was able to hide under their noses for such a long time. When she was pressed for that question, she wouldn't be able to answer it with anything but what her gut told her. Her gut was telling her that she, along with the rest of the KND simply didn't want to think about it. Numbuh 274 was a hero, a role model and the bar that permanently set.

Even the thought of getting rid of him seemed absurd.

"He's on Earth," 32 replied and Rachel's heart sunk.

Something was not right here.

And she did not want to think about Numbuh 274 was involved.

"You have command," Rachel replied with a bit of hoarseness in her voice, as she stepped away from the view port and turned on her heels. "I'll be in my office."

If Nigel could damage the security apparatus in defection, Chad could destroy it.

He did build it after all.

* * *

Gripping the S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R. in one hand and looking at the changes that Chad had made to the central computer, including tampering with the Super Big Computermabob, which was an unforgivable offense, Rachel was steaming. Her mentor had covered his tracks very well, and Rachel would expect nothing less of him, but it didn't excuse his actions. Tampering with the computer, erasing and editing files, threatening the very safety of the Kids Next Door, angry didn't quite capture the rage in her all that Chad hadn't been grandfathering out of the Kids Next Door, she would have pressed for his immediate decommissioning.

"Time?" Rachel asked of the computer as she swung her legs off of her desk and sat up straightened up in the chair. What she was about to do was illegal in many functioning governments. Had the KND actually been a government, there was the very real possibility that she would fail and be jailed for the rest of her natural life.

"24 minutes," The computer's voice responded and Rachel sighed.

Coups were never good for the stability of a government or an organization, but she could not stand by and allow the Kids Next Door to remain under the control of a… _teenager_. When she'd get the backlash for what she was about to do, and she would – that would be her justification, and any rational operative would see it too.

Reaching forward to the communication panel on her desk, she leaned forward and braced herself on desk as she pressed the button that would call security, "Numbuh 111, would yousend a very large security detachment to my office on the double?"

When she got back the acknowledgement, Rachel pushed away from her desk and sighed for what must have been the hundredth time today. Today she was going to rewrite the history books of the entire Kids Next Door, no Supreme Leader had ever been deposed, ever. She would have the distinction of being the first leader to every install herself in that position after taking it from another Supreme Leader.

Rachel would be in the history books of the Kids Next Door because of it.

And her bitterness towards Chad couldn't have gotten any deeper.

* * *

"He's not going to take it from you," Rachel announced as she arrived in his office a half hour later. Flanked by three security officers to her left and right, Rachel trained her weapon on Chad. "I know how much the Kids Next Door means to you, Chad, but I can't allow a teenager to control Global Command, not even if it's you."

And she meant it when she said she was sorry.

Chad had built the organization to such heights, and led it with such distinction, that all of his accomplishments would outside his predecessors. Unfortunately for her, because anyone with a brain stem knew that she was going to replace him, he would outshine all of his successors too. The era of Chad's leadership had been a good one, and now it was over – and now, they needed to keep clam and carry on.

"Don't do this to me," Rachel was shocked for a moment to see tears slipping out of his ice-blue eyes, but she quickly quashed the response. "Please, don't do it Rach."

"I'm sorry," She whispered and tightened her aim.

Numbuh 274's face was stoic.

The awkward silence that had fallen over the office dragged on for a few moments.

And then a small, very imperceptible, smile came to his face, and he nodded.

Rachel nodded back.

Despite the gravity of the situation, and despite the fact that Chad would not go down without a fight – she understood what it meant. Unbeknownst to everyone else in the room, that nod was signified the teacher giving his final approval to his student. Chad would understand, Chad did understand – because it was exactly what he had taught her to do. At least in that aspect of their relationship, they'd be fine.

But there would be hard feelings in regards to the next few minutes.

Chad knew, and she knew it – and she doubted that they would ever recover.

* * *

Even as she dismissed her staff and stared down at the reports on the damage to the Moonbase, Rachel could hardly keep her mind on task. The previous two hours of her life had turned every preconceived notion that she had ever had about Chad Dickson upside down. In all of her years in working under him, she'd never considered the possibility that he would try to kill her, not one moment hinted at it.

Attempting to send the Moonbase, a place that he had built up, and which contained some of his closest friends and co-workers, into the sun, had sent her a big message.

_Screw You. _

Even as the new Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door looked at a draft of a new overriding mission to every single sector on the planet, she couldn't help but grin.

And even as she added her signature to the document – her grin grew into a smile.

Every sector on the planet now had a mission - find Chad Dickson, and_ run the bastard down_.

Even in the midst of now ruling over an empire in chaos, she was happy.

Even in the midst of leading the Kids Next Door in the post-274 era, she was happy.

Even in the midst of what would otherwise be soul crushing bitterness, she was happy.

_No, screw you – traitor._

* * *

**A/N: This was raw - un'beta'ed, I didn't even look for errors, so forgive me if you spot one, it was merely a writing exercise to get the juices going for my story _Ascension_ \- if you enjoy this paring, feel free to check it out! Feel free to leave a review and favorite if you liked it! **


End file.
